Homemade Lathe

[lwasserm]

Isn't 4 meters more like 13 feet?

[Ba r r y]

That's actually got a lot in common with fiberglassing. Both involve laying a substrate on a form and gluing it.

One uses paper and paste, the other uses fiberglass cloth and thin, slow set epoxy.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Micheal, is the group "The Sub Committee" still around? If so they could point you to people that have done this. I have a co-worker that (used) to build Subs and even powered torpedoes (which he used to sell). I'd point you at him, but he would get grumpy with both of us. I looked at adding this to my hobbies years ago, and had an attack of sanity instead.

[Michael]

Some germans are building a BELUGA CLASS sub using wood (end bits only though) and a lathe however my hull is just too big to fit on any of my lathes, so wondered about making my own. As this is much larger than anyone else has attempted (excluding military research vessels) I'm in a bit of a league of my own..

Michael

[Andrew Barss]

:> I need to turn a piece of wood thats 4m (12') long by 50cm (20") wide :> (diameter). Would a piece of wood this size be suitable for turning on a :> lathe, if I was to make one especially for this purpose? :>

:> The item I'll be turning will be a (model) submarine hull. :>

:> Does anyone have any better suggestions? :>

: A lathe turns things between two points. You can take the ubiquitous old : Delta 12" shop lathe, use the outboard thread and faceplate, mount the : tailstock on a table screwed to the floor the appropriate distance away, and : countershaft the beast to desired speed. As long as you have the two points : fixed in line, you're good.

A cylinder of the size he's considering turning is going to end up being close to 30 cubic feet. Suppose it was something light, like poplar, which is around 40 lbs/cf. That's 1200 pounds of wood. Now imagine it before it gets turned, with it not being perfectly balanced. You would need one gigantic lathe for that --

You'd destroy the Delta 12", and everything within about fifteen feet as it walks across the floor and comes apart.

Stave construction seems a much better bet to me.

-- Andy Barss

[George]

Me too, but if he can find a log of proper dimension, more power to him.

Having done both staved 9' and solid at 6'6" in the past on an old cast iron delta, I assure you it works if you just say yes instead of no.

[Ken Muldrew]

Jack up an old Chevy pickup, take one of the back wheels off, and use the hub as your faceplate.

Oh, and don't forget to wear your safety glasses. ;-)

Ken Muldrew [e-mail] (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

[Casper]

Probably many of you have already stumbled across this already, but too much neat stuff to not share. Enjoy!